ICRA: India’s FY19 cement output to rise 6% YoY

With a recovery in the affordable and rural housing markets and infrastructure construction picking up, India’s domestic credit rating agency ICRA expects cement production in India to rise by six per cent in FY19.

However, rising input costs will continue to dampen company profits.

Output from India’s cement plants reached 298Mt in FY18, a 6.3 per cent rise when compared with the 280Mt. The main share of this growth took place in the second half of the financial year as key markets registered a higher demand.

ICRA expects 19-22Mta of capacity to be added in FY19, primarily in the eastern part of the country. While lower than in the previous financial year, the capacity growth, when combined with market demand, will result in utilisation levels to remain below 70 per cent over the next two years.